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Sony Pulls New Wipeout HD In-Game Ad
Sony has pulled a new in-game video advert from Wipeout HD after its introduction led to an increase in game loading times.
Yesterday in-game ad firm Double Fusion launched the first in a series of planned Wipeout HD in-game adverts targeted at North American and European players. While the company said that the ads would complement the PS3 hover-racer’s futuristic design, the first to be introduced to the title increased game loading times by around ten seconds, leading to its swift withdrawal.
“The ad has been removed and we are investigating the situation to ensure that any in-game advertising does not affect gameplay,” a Sony UK spokesperson told us today. “This will apply for all future in-game ads as well.”
Double Fusion announced last year that it had signed an agreement with Sony to deliver dynamic in-game advertising to PS3 titles.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
That is f**king awful. You don't even wanna know the stink I was gonna kick up if they hadn't removed that sh*t. Don't take the piss, Sony.
They used to be very good at this.
Dubs translation is right on the money. It's better to sell ads to be integrated into the final game. Then it pulls the texture from the game as apposed to streaming. I don't know how much more revenue is generated from a "rotating" platform. It might work in the form of weekly, small, overnight updates to the save file. A cell can easily pull texture data from the disc & hard drive at the same time. Since PSN is free, everybody has access to it.
“The ad has been removed and we are investigating the situation to ensure that any in-game advertising does not affect gameplay,” a Sony UK spokesperson told us today. “This will apply for all future in-game ads as well.”
TRANSLATION: next time, we'll introduce the ads WITH the game rather than in an update, so that sneaky users won't be able to be do before-and-after comparisons to gauge the effect on loading times.
It's a stupid move by Sony. In-game advertising is just as bad as those Achivements/Trophies feature within games (yes, i'm not a fan).
Adding adverts into a game you've already sold is a petty move indeed.
Some games actually have ads that update all the time and it doesn't affect gameplay at all. It's been a common practice for a while now it just seems like it may have been poorly implemented in this particular game. I'm not a huge fan of ingame ads, but in some cases (billboards in the cities in Ghost Recon advertising cars) actually adds to the realism of the experience. You'd see Dodge Caliber billboards in real life, so why not in a realistic city-setting in a game taking place in modern times? But a moutain dew add in a futuristic flying car game may be out of place.
My point is adding adverts into a game you've already sold is a dumb move (in the case of Wipeout).
I don't mind them so much if they don't spoil/interfere with gameplay. The ads in wipeout did just that i.e. longer loading times due to the ad, the ad was being shown 3 times every hour, plus the ads were being shown even offline.
Those conditions are unacceptable and would piss anyone off.
They are billboard type ads, or video clips you're forced to watch?
You can see for yourself on the link below. My friend was pissed about it, just as well Sony removed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4f9zts6JM
That's insane! I was considering buying Wipeout HD when it was on sale 2 weeks back, it's pretty much unacceptable to have a disruptive advertisement delay me from playing a game I PAID for. Hopefully this serves as a lesson to Sony and MS.
Ew, that's terrible. I thought they were like the ones in Quake Live or something.
Thanks barla, will have to check it out at home though, youtube is blocked at my work.